Redken, owned by L’Oreal since
1993, began selling haircare products
and services in 1960. The company’s goal
— beyond beautiful, healthy hair — has
always been to educate salon owners, stylists and colorists on the best ways to use
its products and grow their business. And
while that philosophy still holds true,
now, more than ever, Kalyani believes the
education process has to continue with
the consumer’s desire to get professional
services. “You can do all the DR marketing in the world geared toward haircare

a year later, Redken’s communications
team was changing its strategy to focus on
pumping up the skills and of its stylists.
Today, Redken is known by salon professionals for its educational programs. “Our
biggest growth comes from our stylists’
growth,” she says. “Salons and beauty
schools have changed a lot in seven years.
It used to be you would just learn to cut
and color, but today we’re involved in
universities, going through their business
curriculum to give professionals the tools
to run and grow a salon.”

the latest trends and techniques, how to
get the professional highights or perfect
cut. The professional has to have every
part of the arsenal ready to keep the
consumer loyal.”

The big focus this year for Redken
is on hair color. Now, more than ever,
customers are heading off to salons for
coloring. In fact, colorists can’t keep up
with appointments because business is
booming. The company conducted focus
groups to find out why some women
were coloring their hair at home and

professionals, but at the end of the day, it
has to get consumers to walk into a salon
and create a demand,” she says.

Kalyani’s team constantly pushes
marketing aimed at two targets: professionals and consumers. “If we don’t get
salon pros and consumers to respond to
what we have to offer, if we don’t get
them to interact with us — which leads
to engagement and intent — then we
have not optimized our ad spending.”

Seven years ago, Kalyani was spending
about $1 million to $1.5 million annually
on consumer advertising. But less than

Salon Vs. Mass Market

“Everyone has great technologies and
product stories. Today, the lines between
mass market and luxury products are
blurring and consumers are savvier,” says
Kalyani. Therefore, Redken’s challenge is
to convince a woman to color her hair at
a salon rather than doing it at home.

So how does Redken compete,
especially with a mass market full of
inexpensive, do-it-yourself, hair coloring
products? “The difference of walking into
a drugstore and a salon is the expertise,”
says Kalyani. “The stylist is armed with

not in a salon. Nine out of 10 said they
were intimidated at describing what
they wanted to a colorist. “Doctors have
credentials that everyone can read about,
but it wasn’t the same in the haircare
professional market. You had to get a recommendation from someone whose hair
you loved ... that’s not always possible.”

Redken aimed to make this task easier
by providing information on its Web site
about hair coloring. One of the defining
features of Redkencolor.com is the “
Redken salon locator,” — partnered with
Google maps, the search helps a cus-